Best 35th birthday EVER!

As you may know Saturday the 16th was my 35th birthday. Not something I was really looking forward to.

I did take Friday off from work to get my yearly physical (I admit not so much a fun bday activity) and I also applied for my passport! One step closer to my trip!

Other then my Friday activities I had absolutely nothing else planned. I envisioned staying home, watching Netflix, & being depressed. But that did not come to pass as the best thing happened Friday night. Chris (family from Honeyville) called to see what I was doing for my bday. When I told her I was doing a whole lot of nothing she informed me that she had a surprise planned for me. Now, normally I don't like surprises, but this one turned out to be one of the best surprises ever. All Chris would tell me was that we were going to Layton. I know...Layton! What is in Layton? As Em so poignantly pointed out that she couldn't recall anyone ever announcing: "now that I've won the Superbowl I'm going to LAYTON!"

Before heading to Honeyville Saturday morning I recieved a card snail mailed all the way from England! Yes, England! It was from my darling friend Tony. We've known each other for maybe 3ish years. Someday I hope to meet him in England. The best part is that in 4-6 weeks I'll have my passport so I can!

(If you look close you can see the envelope says "Royal Mail" & the stamp is of the Queen. Very cool if you name is Kins.)

I should have known that my card could have been a sign as to what the rest of the day was going to bring.

Turns out the whole day would be a British day. Perfect day for me!

After meeting Chris we drove to Layton to this fabulous British fish & chips shop. It was run by authentic British chaps! It had a little restuarant that you could get real English fish & chips served in the traditional paper. They also had a few souvineer items to purchase. Chris said I could get whatever I wished for. I chose this darling Union Jack piggy bank. I'm saving my $ for my cruise or trip to England in it. The $5 came in a bday card from my cousin Em. She specifically sent it so I could use it for my trip. Perfect that I have a darling piggy band to store it in. I decided to call him Jack.

(This pic is out of order but I also bought myself a vintage spoon ring....details to come.)

At the fish & chips shop I also got some tasty and not so tasty British treats. I sent this pic to Tony and he authenticated the fact that: Yes, you can find these treats in England & yes, he has personally eaten the chocolates biscuits and the curlywurly. For all you who are curious a curlywurly is a carmel and chocolate candybar. The yellow thing is pineapple taffy. As far as tasty as opposed to not so tasty the list is as follows:

Tasty: curlywurly, taffy

Not so tasty: chocolate tea biscuits.

The reason that they are called biscuits rather then cookies must be cause they are not sweet at all!

We didn't get fish & chips cause Chris had something else planned for lunch, but don't worry I'm good to go if any of you feel the need for some English fish & chips.

Chris headed North again back to Ogden to the most fablous, little restaurant that I've ever been too. We went to a vintage tea room for English tea! The restuarant is called:

VINTAGE RESTAURANT & TEA ROOM

2436 GRANT AVE

OGDEN, UT 84401

801-425-4879 OR vintageutah@gmail.com

You can also "like" them on fb: facebook.com/vintageutah

You walk in and the place is just barely bigger then my apartment but it's just perfectly cozy and not crowded at all that you don't notice much. The decore and ambiance is just brilliant!

The walls are painted lavender and decorated in beautiful little girl pretty princess dresses and tea pots hang as a border. Everything is old and just beautiful. They use real china tea sets to serve with. As you can imagine not a lot of the dishes match. My tea cup and saucer matched each other but did not match Chris's. It was just so darling.

Of course their speciality is tea. They handed us 2 baskets of tea to smell. They have ONLY 60 different flavors. I ended up picking "blackberry burgandy." It was so tasty. I always forget how much I love tea until I drink it....."oh yeah, I really like tea."

Here is a pic of me pouring some tea for Chris

They also have big floppy gorgeous hats all over that you can wear as you enjoy the tea for a more authentic British experience. Here is me modeling a hat while drinking tea. I'm so talented. :)

They also specialize in parties. While we were there the owner was hosting a birthday party for a 3 year old girl & 4 of her friends. All of the girls got to pick a pretty dress to wear. They even had gloves and tearas or hats to choose from. After choosing one dress all of the little girls wanted to pick another dress. Rather then loosing patience the owner said "oh it is very common and proper to change dresses betweeen courses." Of course with that kind of endorsement they all had to change dresses, and change dresses they did. All of the girls changed between the tea and scones, & soup with cheese sandwiches, and on and on. It was so cute and extremely entertaining for Chris and I.

Besides the tea Chris & I also had sandwiches. I choose a seafood croissant and Chris had a chicken salad croissant. But wait for the best bit.....dessert.....

For dessert we had....wait for it.....

Princess Diana's wedding cake! The owner found the recipe online and now you can have a peice of Princess Diana's wedding cake in UTAH! It was a fruit cake made of fresh fruit. Very very tasty. It defintely deserve the official Kins "Delish!"

After eating we browsed the few souviner & gifts the Vintage Tea Room sales. That is where I found my beautiful vintage spoon ring. (refer to pic above)

It was truely a brilliant, taylor made birthday for me. I had the most fun! Thank you Chris! You done good!